IMMUNOHISTOCHEMISTRY

SECTIONING TISSUE

IMMUNOSTAINING & COVERSLIPPING

MICROSCOPE IMAGING

We use immunohistochemistry to detect the location of viral vector infection in rat brain at the end of the experiment. Usually this entails staining for a tag (e.g. HA, mCherry, mCitrine, etc.) that is fused to the DREADD receptor. In some cases, we are interested in whether neuronal activity is increased in particular brain regions, and for this we stain for a nuclear protein called c-Fos. For example, we use this method to confirm that the activating DREADD (hM3Dq) increased neuronal activity or that the deactivating DREADD (hM4Di) decreased neuronal activity. Read more about DREADDs on our DREADD page here.